Planning charrettes

end for Boone
By Frank Ruggiero

As a lesser known saying goes, “All good charrettes must come to an end.”

The town of Boone closed the workshop portion of its design charrette last Friday, and the Lawrence Group consulting firm is now summarizing its findings for a final presentation Tuesday, Oct. 28.

A charrette is an intensive, week-long planning session that involves significant public participation, and Boone planning director John Spear said he was pleased with the outcome.

“It’s been a great week,” he said of the session that lasted Oct. 20-25. “There has been a tremendous amount of public participation every day. The session focused on specific issues every day, and the first three days really brought people to the table.”

Focused on developing a land-use master plan that will take Boone through 2030, topics included environmental protection and sustainability, utility infrastructure and alternative energy, transportation, green space, development, and affordable and student housing.

Members of the public were invited to attend any session that piqued their interest, to offer suggestions and opinions on the diverse set of topics.

Spear said meetings started with an economic and market analysis that aided the planning process, such as a consideration of vacant and underdeveloped properties and areas.

Each evening, after recording stakeholder input, Lawrence Group designers incorporated those ideas into renderings drafted on transparency paper, which was then placed over an aerial map of Boone, showing what such development might look like to scale.

Spear particularly liked the Lawrence Group’s idea for development near Watauga Medical Center. The rendering shows higher-density mixed use, with various medical offices and workforce housing.

David Walters, professor of urban design at UNC-Charlotte and urban designer with the Lawrence Group, elaborated. “With this being a regional medical center that’s only going to get bigger, this is the ideal location (for growth),” he said, suggesting that such growth would likely come from redevelopment.

“There are some places in town where you can get redevelopment fairly easily, but market forces will tip the balance … We don’t want to build on the slopes, so the best way is to redevelop at higher density.”

Walters added that higher density means more tax dollars without raising the rate. It would also mean multi-story buildings, though he said none should exceed four stories.

During the pin-up session, during which consultants review the day’s progress through a one-by-one description of each rendering, Lawrence Group principal Craig Lewis said, “The focus of this week is what should we do to allow Boone to grow. There are two choices – you can grow out or grow up.”

He said there are many redevelopment opportunities throughout the area, many of them incorporating the proposed Daniel Boone Parkway (Boone bypass) with consideration to surrounding features.

For instance, the old barn adjacent to the medical center on Deerfield Road would be considered a historic property and therefore preserved “to celebrate and not consume,” Lewis said, while the bypass would connect to the area by way of an elongated roundabout, rather than another stoplight. Traffic would flow one way in each direction, and circulation would come from Deerfield and works its way toward its destination in that area.

“A unique approach to topographic conditions in the area – and it might also make for a very interesting gateway in that area,” Lewis said.

Consultants also spent time with plans for the old Watauga High School site, with one idea being a research campus run in a public-private manner. Such campuses can be built and owned by developers and occupied by agencies, paying rent like any other tenant, thus contributing to the tax base, Lewis said.

Another option is a mixed-use commercial center, including multi-story buildings and big-box national retailers. Parking would be accommodated by decks built atop the larger stores, with elevator access into their lobbies. Such a commercial center would require multiple entries and exits, likely one on Wilson Drive and another on Winkler’s Creek Road, in addition to that already present on N.C. 105.

A concept for Blowing Rock Road, which Lewis called “perhaps the ultimate build-out,” would see a separate frontage driveway or access road on either side of the main thoroughfare for access to business and properties. This would allow a steady flow of uninterrupted traffic down U.S. 321. “So, there are four travel lanes that can move straight through this area – no lights are needed through four blocks,” Lewis said. “We do know we need to move cars through the area, but it also provides the much needed access to the lots.”

The Lawrence Group also addressed redevelopment of properties demolished by the U.S. 421 widening, suggesting multi-story, mixed-use buildings, as well as a relocation of Boone Public Works.

For the area between Faculty Street and Blowing Rock Road (between the Holmes Center and McDonald’s), Lewis suggested opening Kraut Creek to create a “living environmental park,” thereby dealing with environmental water quality needs and creating a green park with LEED-certified, sustainable buildings.

“Imagine what a jewel this would be,” he said. “Right now, you’ve got this endless sea of parking lots and strip centers, but down here you get this wonderful break and really get to celebrate something special in this area.”

Rich Jacobs, owner of ArtWalk in downtown Boone, asked how soon people can expect to see changes.

“We do want to make sure you’ll keep this energy going … to make things happen,” Lewis said, explaining that changing town ordinances would be paramount, though time-consuming in a one-to-two year period.

“But you’ve got to have things in the interim to show progress, so let that be parallel.”

The Lawrence Group will deliver its closing presentation Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 5:30 p.m. at the Broyhill Inn & Conference Center, located at 775 Bodenheimer Drive on the Appalachian State University campus.

For more information, visit the 2030 Land-Use Master Plan Web sites at boone2030.blogspot.com and on Facebook (www.facebook.com) as boone2030.